Album Review: The Streets – Computers and Blues (Just Music)

<Rap/Hip Hop/ Streetwise> The Streets is Mike Skinner. The only other member to appear on all their albums is Johnny Drum Machine but really, it’s all Skinner. He… or they… have been around since as early as 1994 but Skinners breakthrough actually came in 2000 when the Locked On label agreed to release Has it Come to This?  which proved to be a hit reaching No. 18 on the UK charts. 2012 sees the release of his 5th full length album Computers and Blues and reportedly his last. Those who know The Streets music will know that theirs is a street-wise, urban rap sound kind of typical of what’s known as UK Rap. So what of Skinner’s swansong then? It’s not quite as legendary an offering as his earlier work, but Computers and Blues does nonetheless hit all the notes fans will be familiar with and is still full of vintage rhymes and brutally honest beats. So whilst this final offering is not quite as breathtaking as Original Pirate Material, nor is it the conceptual masterpiece of A Grand Don’t Come For Free, it is nevertheless a fitting finale to one interesting fella.